Back in the days when I worked for a multiple who had yet to invest in electronic records, one I believe still using paper records, I was always vulnerable to mistakes resulting from my consistently poor handwriting.
I remember one incident where I misread someone else’s writing for a change. During a rolling clinic, I picked up the clipboard with a record for a Mrs Hui, which I reasonably pronounced ‘Hwee’ when I called out her name. Getting no response, I called the next patient and, as the morning progressed, kept calling out Mrs Hui to no avail. By lunchtime, there was just one elderly woman left in the waiting room and the one clipboard remaining. I went over to see if it was the elusive Mrs Hui, only to find a very patient Mrs Hill.
Legibility is one of the several key factors when records are audited, others being that they are accurate and contemporaneous. I am sure I am not alone in spending more time recording these days, to ensure, for example, that all that I have advised is fully documented and that full consent for procedures has been granted. Increased workload and increased pressure on recordkeeping is a dangerous mix, so I was more than interested to see a trial being run in Lincolnshire among community nurses. The nurses will be given VR headsets to wear during consultations, which will automatically transcribe what is spoken into the records, and will also feature some diagnostic support features such as thermal imaging. This could be great for optometry.
On a different matter, when I mentioned the Marmot review of health inequality some weeks back, I was accused by some of overstating the current economic crisis and its potential impact on eye care. With this in mind, I have worked with Dr Rohit Narayan who has more thoroughly reviewed the topic. I hope you find his article 'Health inequality: Framing the debate' of interest.
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